I call it the 20/20 Charcoal basket...

Incase you missed my reply to CWalk, I thought I'd make this it's own thread.

I call it the 20/20 Charcoal basket... $20 and 20min of assembly is all it takes.

First you go to HomeDepot and buy one of these:

Then you get a tape measure and a black marker, lay the mesh down so the diamonds are running left to right:

Then with a straight edge and the marker draw a line right down the center of the 'intersection' that is 6" in from each side:

From the bottom up and the top down, using a good pair of 'snips', CUT threw 6 intersections following the line you made. Only go 6 cuts up and 6 cuts down. Those pieces of MESH are universally made the same so I've done this to 2 pieces already and it works great.

Lay something Heavy or clamp something across the piece from left to right 6" up and now BEND all 3 pieces up. OVER BEND the center piece and bend it back to a 90*, leaving the 2 other flaps bent just short of a 90. Do this to the bottom and the top.

Now take a pair of pliers and bend the ends of the flaps IN so that when you form the basket these 2 bends will go into the side piece.

It is hard to explain but BEND up the end piece and INSERT the lower bent flap into the bottom diamond hole pushing it down all the way also insert the TOP bent flap into the hole at the top. This eliminates the need for any metal ties or attachments of any kind. The whole thing just stays together this way by itself.

Do this to BOTH end pieces and you should have something that looks like this:

Now you have a 12x12 charcoal basket that fits right into your Bandera or just about any side-box smoker...

AND YES, it is heavy duty enough to last threw the heat. I've had one of mine for a whole season now

Nice job...but beware...the mesh is not universal. Probably the sheets at the big box stores are, but you can get different guages, and pattern dimensions. It is also cheaper if you order from a place like McMaster-Carr...but i have made one fro a sheet at Lowes and i wish i would have had this in front of me! As i cut and then pieced back together. this is much nicer.

When you fill the basket with unlit coal do you fill it up 3/4 full unlit and 1/4 lit or fill the basket 100% unlit and top off with a chimney of lit? Do you add the lit closest to the cooking chamber when using a sfb?

YES, you can fill it almost all the way and add about 20 lit coals, add them to the chamber side and they will last longer than the intake side, but if you want a hotter fire sooner then add them to the intake side...